Fiery objects reported in sky in South County

Reports of some odd, fiery objects in the sky in the South County yesterday evening set law enforcement on a futile search. The FAA had no answers, either.

One man on East H Street in Chula Vista called police about 6:40 p.m., saying he thought maybe something from a plane was falling, in flames, toward the Otay reservoirs. A police dispatcher relayed his information to the Sheriff's Department and notified the Federal Aviation Administration.

The California Highway Patrol received a call from a woman in south San Diego at 6:45 p.m. who also said it looked as if some object in the eastern sky was on fire, CHP Officer Larry Landeros said.

A man in Tijuana saw what he described as objects on fire in the sky, “dancing and suddenly they were gone,” he said in an e-mail to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

A sheriff's helicopter crew joined patrol deputies in a 45-minute search around the Otay reservoirs. They found nothing, sheriff's Lt. Sylvester Washington said.

Diana Joubert, of the FAA's 24-hour operations center, said FAA officials checked various San Diego County airports and found no reports of aircraft crashes, mishaps or equipment failures.

“We don't know what it was,” Joubert said. “The first thing I thought of, though, was the two satellites that collided. Space debris.”

Joubert was referring to the collision Tuesday 500 miles over Siberia between a U.S.-based commercial satellite and a derelict Russian military communications satellite. Debris is believed to be scattered in Earth's orbit, according to an Associated Press report.

A spokesman at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station said there were no reports last night of anything unusual. –P.R.

Three same-sex couples
denied marriage licenses

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO: Three same-sex couples tried to obtain a marriage license yesterday at the County Administration Center but were denied in what has become an annual tradition around Valentine's Day.

The latest rebuke had an extra sting for the couples – including Connor Greene and Missy Luber of Pacific Beach – who did not get married last year after the state Supreme Court made gay marriage legal. Voters then banned same-sex marriage by passing Proposition 8 in November.

Greene, 20, said she wanted to have a show of solidarity with gay couples who did exchange vows and are having their marriages challenged in court.

“It's really important to keep the community excited about the issue,” she said. “Because Proposition 8 passed doesn't mean we're going away.”

The marriage attempts were part of National Freedom to Marry Day, an annual event held since 2001 on or near Valentine's Day by Marriage Equality USA to highlight discrimination against gay couples. –C.G.

Two more wet storms
are heading this way

Brace yourselves for another wet weekend. Two more storms are moving toward San Diego County, and the second one could be a big rainmaker that produces flash floods.

Storm No. 1 should arrive by late afternoon or early evening today, according to the National Weather Service. It might dump a quarter-inch to half-inch of rain west of the foothills and up to an inch in the mountains.